Misc Drabbles
by RuaDragon
Summary: Drabbles, featuring Zuko, Iroh and Longshot. Fourth chapter is Zutara.
1. Love

**Love **

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_He knew the fire before he felt it_

He knew it in his blood, in his bones, and when he breathed it was the heat from a flame that poured out of his mouth.

_He felt the fire before he saw it_

He felt it curling and crackling along his skin, inside, outside, felt the sublime power of it rushing though him and years later would wonder how anyone could live without this feeling.

_He saw the fire before he heard it_

Under his bed at night and five years old, he wanted light and light came, the feeling giving birth to the flame, it slid into his hands and it made no sound.

_Then he heard it_

It moved with a grace and beauty unrivalled; he loved the feel, sight, smell, sound of it, everyday he danced with it, and it danced with him, and when he raged it raged with him and in Ba Sing Se nothing grated on him quite like the feel of no-fire because it had been with him since before he learned to _breathe_ it was part of his family and part of his home and when it tore at his face that day and his feelings for everything changed, but those for that light, because nothing could change that.

_And it roared _

He loved the fire.


	2. Mornings

**Mornings**

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It was just one of his eccentricities, Iroh decided, that he felt mornings had colours.

When he was younger the mornings were red. If he was lucky he had just enough free time to sit and enjoy a cup of tea at dawn. Sit quietly among red tents with red flags, manned by soldiers bending red flame in red armour over red stained earth, and even as he watched the lingering smoke from yesterday's battles made the rising sun red.

Later mornings were what he could only describe as purple. They were soft and ambiguous, maybe there would be a battle that day, probably not. He could sit and savour his tea on a lazily rocking ship before certain noisy people were awake, and watch the slow violet light touch the horizon.

Now his mornings were orange. He wasn't sure why they were this way. Maybe it was Aang's clothes as the twelve year old bent on saving the world chatted to him excitedly. Maybe it was the flash of Zuko's fire as he chased the cackling Toph through their camp because she had poked him one too many times while he was trying to sleep in. Maybe it was even something in the gentle aroma of porridge and tea as he and Katara made breakfast while Sokka snored oblivious in the background. But he thinks, what really makes these orange mornings, is the energy burning under the surface that is so alike those mornings years ago. It was different, yet just as nervous. Just as ready.

A red day is dawning.


	3. Yellow Smoke

**Yellow Smoke**

The smoke rolled through his town like a prowling dog. Lead on flickering orange leashes by men wearing red and black and blood. It arched its back to the sun and dyed his world a sickly yellow. It's hot breath blinded his eyes and stung his face. He was afraid, and too young, and his hands too unsteady; could do nothing but choke as it reached into his home and ate his family, as it reached into his throat and ate his words. As the men left it lingered, in dying light it muzzled at limp bodies and pawed at dark pools on the ground. Then curled up along the streets, and slept. And he slept. And when it woke it slunk away into the next town, and the next, and the next. And when he woke he picked up his bow, and his arrow, and hunted the dog.


	4. Lost and Found

**Author's note: Several years ago I planned to write an ongoing Avatar fanfic, about Zuko's journey in a world where Aang had died in the iceberg. It was going to be one of those long and epic fics, but in the end the only part of it I ever wrote was the epilogue. All this excitement about ****The Legend of Korra**** reminded me of it, so I thought I'd post it here for the world to see, since it's the only part of that story that will ever be written.**

**The story goes that Zuko is searching for the Avatar, but is occasionally asked by generals and higher-ups in charge of Earth Kingdom territories to assist them in certain matters. When he is 16 his ship is one of several commandeered to make a final attack against the Southern Water Tribe. Most of the tribe escape and end up scattered along the Earth Kingdom coast. Zuko barely gets involved, but does manage to capture Katara. He thinks her waterbending will be useful and keeps her prisoner. She hates Zuko and his crew, but has a more diplomatic relationship with Iroh. Katara agrees to help them search for the Avatar, secretly hoping that if they find him she'll be able to help him escape from Zuko, so that he can bring an end to the war. However as the years grind on they both slowly succumb to hopelessness, Katara in particular after the defeat and occupation of the Northern Water Tribe. Katara realized that the Avatar does not exist anymore, that the Fire Nation will not be stopped, that even if she escaped there would be no home to return to. Zuko gradually loses faith in the Fire Nation, becoming more and more aware of the damage they are doing to the world and how he has been lied to. He spends more and more time with Iroh, Katara and his crew, and less and less with other people of the Fire Nation. His journey becomes listlessly moving from place to place rather than actually searching for something. The two come to an understanding, and eventually begin a relationship. During their travels they had previously stopped at Kyoshi island, finding several members of the Southern Water Tribe, including Sokka, there. Katara was overjoyed to see her brother again, and wants to stay in Kyoshi, but Zuko insists on continuing their search, something that left her bitterly angry at him for some time to come, though they do return to visit Sokka several times. When Katara falls pregnant she locks herself in her room and cries, she had always hoped that one day she would leave the boat and everyone on it behind her, and go on to live her life, but this means that her relationship with Zuko is permanent, part of her life like she never wanted it to be. Zuko tries to improve the situation by returning to Kyoshi island and staying there. Most of Zuko's crew trickle away, Zuko and those who remain are tolerated because their presence means the island is left alone by the rest of the Fire Nation. Katara gives birth to a daughter named Ilah. Zuko is slowly accepted by Sokka and the people of Kyoshi island, and he and Katara build a life there. When Katara falls pregnant again the two get married and move into a house on the island, Zuko finally and completely letting go of his old life. Katara gives birth to twins, a girl, Aileu, and a boy, Li. Sokka and Suki also have several kids, the oldest is a boy named Koda, and they settle down to let their children grow up together. And that's about the whole story. Enjoy the epilogue.**

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**Lost and Found**

Ilah seemed to sense it before anyone. Aileu always wore Water Tribe clothes unless forced into something else. And though Li would sometimes wear Fire Nation clothing, he was a friendly, sociable little boy, and preferred to wear Earth Kingdom clothes to fit in better with the other children. Meanwhile Ilah would wear all three, often mixing them in strange amalgamations. Zuko owned an Air Nomad children's vest, one of the treasures he had taken from the western air temple. It was over 100 years old, a relic from an extinct people, priceless, and his six-year-old daughter wouldn't stop wearing it. They'd tried hiding it, but Ilah was a clever little girl and would always manage to steal it back, then run off to play wearing it and a pair of Fire Nation, Earth Kingdom or Water Tribe pants. Her family had tried to explain to her how precious this simple piece of clothing was, but it didn't stop her wearing it. Zuko and Katara would scold her about it, Katara more so. Zuko guessed that she felt more sensitive about it, because her people were so close to following the Air Nomads into oblivion, but they never bought it up. Eventually the vest was given up as Ilah's, and they simply tried to wash it and mend it as best they could until she outgrew it, and sadly let it go.

Like all the children of the village she loved listening to stories of the grand adventures of Avatars from ages past. Zuko sensed that her feelings for these stories were different from those of the other children. It was not the admiration and hero worship they clearly felt, but Zuko could not pinpoint it, and children loved stories for their own reasons, so he let it go. Much later, when he looked back on those times, he would recognise that the feeling he sensed from her had been _familiarity_.

It happened when she was ten. Zuko had finished his work and was sitting with Katara by the village square. A group of children were playing a ball game they had invented. It was very complicated, designed to allow all types of benders and non-benders to play together fairly. The kids seemed to be the only ones who understood all the rules, but it was still fun to watch the wet, dirty, scorch marked ball wiz through the air when you had spare time. By some coincidence (or in later thought, perhaps not so much) Sokka and Suki had been watching too. The ball bounced one way, and then another, and then was kicked and flew straight towards Ilah. Moving no part of her body but her arm and hand, she reached up and struck the ball away. It had been nine feet above her head at the time. The air seemed to twist and coil in on itself, striking the ball in a fair facsimile of a water whip. None of the children so much as blinked, sworn to secrecy, they had seen her do this many times before, would see it many times again. Only Koda paused, realizing the full weight of Ilah doing this in front of their parents. The adult members of Ilah's family simply stared in open-mouthed shock. _Well then_.

Zuko bought out the airbending scrolls he had taken from the western air temple. At dawn he and Katara, and occaisionally Iroh or Sokka, would pour over the scrolls and attempt to teach Ilah airbending. When the sun had risen further, and everything was bright and warm, she and Zuko and Li gathered for firebending practice, as they always had. In the afternoon she learnt earthbending with some of the other village children, around sunset she stood on the beach with her sister, her cousin and three other water tribe children of the island as her mother taught them waterbending. She was good, very good. Consistently outstripped the other children in terms of power and skill. What surprised them at first though, was that they seemed to have overestimated her abilities. She was the avatar, but she was still a child, she still made mistakes. She reminded Zuko painfully of himself at these times, no matter how often she fell down, she would always pick herself back up and try again. In between training there was play, chores, and school on weekdays. More training, little play. She never complained. There was an _urgency_ to the way she trained, she tore through the airbending scrolls like fire through a dry forest, and during free time could often be found off on her own practising her bending. But Iroh would remind them that the avatar was a diplomat before a warrior, and she was a child before she was that. He would always make sure she took time out to have a cup of tea and a game of pai sho with him, and he tried to teach her everything he knew of the poetry, legends and traditions of the four nations. She ate up these lessons with the same eagerness as she applied to her bending. Like a well loved story she had somehow forgotten.

When Ilah was twelve she knew everything there was to know in the airbending scrolls Zuko had. After much discussion and thought, Zuko, Katara, Sokka, Suki and their children boarded Zuko's boat with Iroh and some of his crew and headed for the Southern Air Temple. Everyone on Kyoshi island had been sworn to secrecy about Ilah, and mercifully no word of her had yet left that place, so it was with some reluctance that they removed her from this safety. Nothing came of it, Kyoshi island was close enough to the temple to avoid the need to restock and they saw no other ships. At the temple the adults searched for scrolls and other items for airbending instruction while the children played around forgotten relics. Afterwards, with no resistance from Zuko, Iroh or Suki, Sokka and Katara directed them further south, to the land that was once home to the Southern Water Tribe. There was little there, just a ragged, crumbling wall of snow that was completely caved in on one side. Deep beneath the snow they found a few pieces here and there, a bolt of animal hide, carved bone, pots, pans and tools, some burnt others just broken. The freshness, the rawness of it, pierced them in a way the temple hadn't. The children in particular grew quiet. They were beginning to comprehend, for the first time, the world their parents grew up in, the world in which they still lived. Afterwards, once they had returned to Kyoshi island, Zuko and Katara noticed that Aileu had developed a solemnity. It was not a change to her overall temperament, but every now and again she would fall into periods of quiet and thoughtfulness. Occasionally she would sneak out late at night. They would catch her standing thigh deep in the ocean, waterbending. Sometimes practicing new moves, other times simply going through ones that should come as easily to her as breathing. They never spoke to her about it, and she wouldn't have wanted them to.

Slowly, as the years went by, a new feeling drifted over the island. The children knew it first. Goofing off during bending practice turned into practical help and mock battles. A slew of young boys attempted to join warrior practice with the young girls, which was met with heavy resistance by most members of the village, tradition was important after all. The problem was solved when Zuko agreed to teach them sword fighting and hand-to-hand combat instead. Lessons were held at the same time as warrior practice for the young girls, lessons which Zuko's children and several other bending kids spontaneously joined. Learning combat became the main focus of almost every child on the island. They were the lessons they took the most seriously and the only ones that would be willingly practiced during free time. During this time, although there was no change in his personality or any other aspect of his life, Li suddenly stopped hiding his firebending. Meanwhile Ilah focused on helping the other children. Inside class and out she was the main one assisting other students when they couldn't master a particular move, however she spent so much energy on fighting and bending lessons that she was the one that needed help with everything else. On the weekend the children would gather for a few hours to practice and share fighting moves they'd learned during the week, and Ilah was the unofficial leader of this gathering. These changes in behaviour were widely noticed by the adults of the island long before they had fully formed. It was met with worry, tolerance, encouragement, and indifference. Then the adults felt it too. It was hope and purpose and meaning. It was soft, and quiet, and constant. The reaction of the adults of the village was not as focused as the children's, but it was there, in little things they did. In saving extra money, in increasing attention of the current political situation, in more focused combat practice, in better maintenance of weapons and boats. Kyoshi island waited.

In the outside world things changed. Many of the children born to the refugee colonies in the Northern and Easter air temples were air benders. Some were uncomfortable with their connection to an extinct people, and remained true to the Earth Kingdom ways of their parents. However most embraced it and gleefully flung Earth traditions to the wind, adopting whatever they could find of Air Nomad culture and making up anything that was missing. The three nations stood in awe and disbelief, and watched the rebirth of their fourth member. But it was not the same, could not be the same. Flying bisons were extinct, and so many texts had been reduced to ash over a century ago. Airbender's had returned, the Air Nomads, as they once were, would not.

People of the Water Tribe prospered, relatively speaking, now that they were not constantly under attack. But they were a minority living amongst Earth people, and their children were growing up in an environment of dirt and sand rather than snow and ice. Eventually a decision was made to return to the South Pole. Messangers travelled up and down the coast to spread the word. Not everyone went, but many did, enough to make a village. Sokka and Katara were invited to go with them, but they both refused. Kyoshi island was their home now.

Azula got married to a man of high standing in the military, and had two children. It was a happy match for many years, then rumours began to spread that she was dissatisfied with the marriage, then her husband died pitilessly in his sleep. Azula married again, to the man in charge of keeping the peace in Ba Sing Se and it's surrounding provinces, and had another child. The match was much more pleasing to her but less to her father. Despite the fact the wedding was held in the Earth Kingdom, Zuko was not invited. This thought only occurred to Zuko months later. He was surprised to find it stung a little.

And over all, the Fire Nation was growing nervous. Not of the few small, isolated attempts at rebellion that still occurred in the Earth Kindgom. Not of the wounded Northern Water Tribe or the new and tiny Southern village. Not of the few hundred refugee children who could bend air and never left their temples. No, the Fire Nation was growing nervous because of its own children. It's children, purebred, white-skinned, dark haired, golden eyed little boys and girls who bent earth and rock as if fire did not run through their veins. It was everywhere. No city, no town, no province of farmland in the Earth Kingdom was without an earthbending Fire Nation child. There were even rumours that certain Fire Nation couples stationed at the North Pole, only a few, had produced _water bending_ children. It was not that there were no more firebenders being born. To the contrary, the vast majority of benders born in the Fire Nation colonies were fire benders. But every year in the colonies the number of new earthbenders increased. The Fire Nation was becoming _afraid_. Talk began amongst officials, higher-ups, the Crown Princess, and the Fire Lord himself, concerning what to do about the growing problem. How to stave off the increasing number of abominations, what to do with the current ones; how to get _rid _of them, how to _fix_ them. And in the colonies, hundreds upon hundreds of Fire Nation families, families whose children could bend earth and rock and stone and sand, families whose children were still _their children_, waited with fear and rage and trembling, as the leaders of the Fire Nation drew closer to a decision.

And on Kyoshi island the Avatar was ten, twelve, fourteen, fifteen, sixteen. A not-child almost-adult who could move fire, water, earth and air as though she had done so for thousands of years. One night Zuko and Katara put their children to bed, though they hardly needed it anymore, and wondered down to the beach. It was a clear and beautiful night, the stars were bright, the still air pleasantly cool, and they sat around a dying fire with Sokka and Suki, listening to the gentle roll of the waves. It was incredibly peaceful. Perfect. So of course Sokka had to ruin it.

"Hey guys" He grinned.

"Let's remake the world."


End file.
